Aquatots case study
Aquatots: bringing public data to Australia’s drowning conversation.
A swimming school’s work became the starting point for a national study of drowning patterns, swimming participation and an indirect measure of access to lessons.
- Client
- Aquatots
- Agency
- Otto Media Group
- Focus
- Drowning, participation and access indicators
- Coverage
- ABC News ↗, December 2025
The research question
How could Aquatots contribute evidence to Australia’s drowning-prevention conversation beyond its own swimming lessons? I connected the client’s work to a wider question: who faces drowning risk and how do swimming participation and access indicators vary across Australia?
My role and the agency’s role
I developed the study concept, brought the public data together and led the research and analysis. The work was commissioned by Aquatots and delivered white-label through Otto Media Group. Otto Media Group and the client led campaign and publication decisions.
How the research was built
The study combined public drowning, swimming-participation, population and business-count data. The sources included Royal Life Saving drowning data and reports, AusPlay participation data and Australian Bureau of Statistics population and business counts.
I rebuilt the drowning series from 2005–06 to 2023–24 by place of birth and developed state and territory comparisons. A separate part of the research brought drowning risk, an access-shortage proxy and swimming participation into the Swim Safety & Access Gap Index.
What the index can and cannot tell you
The index combines normalised measures using weights of 50% for drowning risk, 30% for the access-shortage proxy and 20% for swimming participation. It is a relative comparison built from specified indicators, rather than an estimate of an individual’s probability of drowning.
The report gives a reason for each weight: drowning outcomes are the main concern and gaps in access are the part most open to action. Participation is included so that states with high participation are recognised. When I recalculated the index with equal weights for all three measures, no state changed rank.
The access measure uses business counts in ABS industry category ANZSIC 8211, which includes sports instruction beyond swimming. It does not directly count lesson places, prices or travel time. Participation also does not directly measure unmet demand. Those limits matter when interpreting or pitching the ranking.
What the client received
The handover included a 35-page report, a state and territory ranking, charts and methodology. It brought national findings and geographic comparisons together so the agency could develop supported story angles.
Published coverage
ABC News drew on the overseas-born drowning findings in December 2025. That coverage relates to the drowning analysis; it should not be read as an endorsement of every measure in the composite index.
What this means for your agency
A small business with no national data of its own can still add something new to a national conversation. I look for the public question that fits the client. I build the evidence from public data and write down every limit. Your team gets a report it can pitch, charts it can reuse and a method it can defend.